Mr. Vasicek's Classroom Music Playlist

After reading my post "Music to Manage Your Classroom," some of you wanted to know some good tunes to play in your classroom. Grab your speakers and get ready to download some of the songs I use regularly in my classroom. Enjoy!

Morning Kickoff — These songs provide a short, interactive way to start the day as soon as that bell rings. In my class we accompany the songs with motions and peer interaction. Positive touch each day can really help to build relationships (see Dr. Becky Bailey).

"I Like That" by Houston (This is for a slightly older crowd. When it plays, we gather in a circle as the Detroit Pistons do before a game.)

Writing Time — During writing time, I play slow-paced songs that have no recognizable lyrics, which would create a distraction. I play these selections ONLY when the students should be writing. The last song is ALWAYS the same so they know they need to wrap up their thoughts. Works like a charm . . . just like Pavlov's experiment.

Feel free to use any of these playlist to manage your own classroom. If you are a teacher in my building, however, I respectfully ask you refrain from using the playlists, as the Pavlovian conditioning is powerful and difficult to unprogram.

What cool songs do you use?

Get that tune out of my head,

Brent

2i2 is a trademark of Mr. Vasicek's class to symbolize living to your potential and doing it with Integrity.

Comments

I find that old tv theme songs really intrigue the students. Right now, I'm using the Sanford and Son theme. It's really jazzy and my 5th grade students really love it. I'm going to try and use some other jazzy tunes from old 70s tv shows that the kids will love too! They tend to be a little longer and can be used in the morning to get the kids ready for the day.

I've been listening to music on itunes for days trying to pick appropriate music for my first graders. I should have visited your site and it would have saved me valuable time! Thank you so much for the info. I am so excited to try the music recommended........great job!

Hi, very interesting topic here. I actually need some feedback on a problemI have. My son(9 yrs) just started at a new school and has a teacher who plays current popular songs while the kids are working on math and language assignments. I don't have a problem witn proper use of appropiate music in the classroom, but it seems to me it would be rather distracting for a 9 year old to concentrate on the task at hand while having a pop song playing in the background. My son is easily distracted and I'm worried this new environment would be detrimental to his learning. process. I believe this teacher has heard about music in the classroom but doesn't fully understand how to use it as a learning tool. Any feedback would be appreciated and enlightening.

I have been wanting to add more music to my 2nd grade class but have been so overwhelmed as to where to start and so afraid of playing something bad! This site has been an amazing place for me to start, thank you SOOO much for posting your playlist!

After our empowerment tunes became huge hits for years in local schools we put together I am Bullyproof Music; Pop tunes recorded in a pro studio with lyrics that stick in a student's head like glue and help them cope with stress and see the world in a more self-empowered light. Oh, the thankful mail we receive! Songs like Whatever make a student feel better :-) Fearless (our most popular tune with Jessie Bridges singing- fun trivia; dad is actor, Jeff, and Got Your Back--a song that reminds kids that a loyalty within friendship is the most special part of the equation. Sorry this comment is so long. It's just, we're so up your alley, we felt compelled to say hello! btw Einstin is fun too. We use Justin Timberlake's drummer and a little bit of Beethoven. Every radio worthy pop tune of ours features a different tween or teen singer and unique wisdom-packed lyrics. We have songs for early grades too. Nonconformist took over an entire school once making "different" the new cool. Absolutely love what you're doing here! Chow for now :-) Sincerely, Lessia Bonn PS We're new at TPT and have a few websites.

Hey everyone....while I am not a teacher, I am a husband of a teacher. and after making CD after CD for my wife's third grade classes, I decided to see if there was anything online that would help out teachers incorporate music into the classroom. Not necessarily just old children's music, but actual popular songs (current and older). This blog post was about the only thing that seemed beneficial.

So i decided to start up a website geared toward using music to manage your classroom

I love your ideas & plan to use more of these type of songs. I tend to only use "educational" artists~Dr. Jean, Greg & Steve, etc.
I've always thought "It's a Beautiful Day" by U2 would make a great "opening" song.

Thanks for the great song ideas! I went to a Kim Sutton math wkshp & she gave out song ideas for coloring time - "Crayons" by Ziggy Marley & Diana Ross and for tranition times/clean up time we use "William Tell Overture" to keep them moving.

This is my favorite post of yours. I just got to hear Dr. Marica Tate, author of "Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites" and she spoke of the importance of music in your classroom. Thanks for sharing these great resources!

Susan

Thanks so much, Susan. I am glad you enjoyed the article. I have not read "Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites," but from experience the title is a great summary. You are welcome! Brent

Musical cues sounds like a great idea! My sixth grade teacher used to play classical music while we were doing "seat work" and posted the names of the songs along the top of the classroom. I still remember some of those songs today when I hear them! I will definitely try this out in my classroom. Thanks for the great song suggestions as well when when you use them. I am sure the students will love to add to the list as well.

Laura~
Oh yes they do. They often are bringing in music that they wish me to play during the day. Enjoy!
Brent

You are amazing! From "Your Three Words" to your morning and wrap up routines, I have been hooked for the last hour on viewing your clasroom. Thank you for the inspiration and ideas! I teach 4th grade in CT and love to use music in my classroom as well. I think I might try the Pavlovian conditioning with next years group from the start! (-: I love to use the Casper Slide, the Macarena, or other dance songs to regain energy during standardized testing, immediately after the testing time is up. I play Mozart or Jim Brickman during writing time.

Sarah~

Awesome! I am glad you found something useful from those videos. I really need to get a couple more routines up there for y'all to see. Thanks for filling my bucket.
~Brent

I play Day-O by Harry Belafonte (made famous by the movie Beetlejuice) at the end of the day! That is my fifth-graders' cue to start packing up for the day. I play Respect by Aretha Franklin as the cue to get our chairs into a circle for morning meeting. I love using musical cues! The kids know what to do, and I don't have to say a word! Thank you for posting this. It gave me a lot of new ideas for my classroom!

Andrea~
You are welcome. Thank you for the Day-O. That is a great song!!!
~Brent